Renton is now home to the “mother of all washing machines.”
That’s the appraisal of Bob Raphael, who with longtime co-owner of Service Linen Supply, David Jassny, unveiled the the Milnor 250 continuous batch industrial washer Monday morning.
The Milnor 250 weighs 50,000 pounds and is 79 feet long.
But more importantly it significantly reduces the amount of water from the City of Renton’s aquifer and energy needed to clean tons of linen, from table cloths, to napkins, to chef apparel and aprons, to towels.
Service Linen is the first linen supplier in the United States to use the water-and energy-saving machine. Raphael said the purchase of the $1 million washing machine was a risk.
But he said his business has always been environmentally conscious.
“We know it will greatly benefit both our business and the environment,” Raphael said.
The Milnor produces 250 pounds of laundry every two minutes and 33 seconds. “It’s truly amazing,” Raphael said.
In doing so, it uses a third of the water than traditional washing machines use, he said. That’s a savings of 17 million to 20 million gallons of water a year.
The company saves on energy costs, including electricity and natural gas, mainly because it has less water to heat in the cleaning process.
Community and business leaders gathered at the Service Linen Supply plant on South Fourth Street in downtown Renton Monday for a ribbon cutting.
Mayor Denis Law presided over the ceremony, as the first batch of linens came out fresh and clean for Duke’s Chowder House. Duke’s provided complimentary chowder for the event.
Raphael and Jassny are the second generation in their families to operate Service Linen Supply. David Jassny’s father Paul purchased the Renton Laundry in 1946 and Service Linen was founded. In 1956 Bob Raphael’s father Frank joined the ownership.
David Jassny provided a brief history of the laundry businesses at the site, which go back to at least 1918.
He said their fathers would be happy and proud at the day’s events.
“I am sure they would say, ‘$1 million for a washing machine? Isn’t that a lot?”
